Page 15 - How to write effective business English your guide to excellent professional communication by Fiona Talbot

4 How to Write Effective Business English

Many practical examples and scenarios in this book relate to
sales or customer pitches. Because we’re all consumers in our pri-
vate lives, we can relate to and understand these examples. The
concepts apply equally to every scenario in the list that follows.
Think of lobbying; think of politics; think of charities; think of
fundraising; think of promotions; think of the clarity needed for
writing clear instructions in coding (one of the fastest-growing ca-
reer paths in the 21st century); think of the increasing pressure on
the medical and legal professions (as just two examples) to write in
plain, reader-centred English.

What’s the purpose of your writing?

People sometimes think of business writing as a ‘soft’ skill as op-
posed to the ‘hard’ skills of finance, law, IT, etc. But I think this
description is misleading. The label ‘soft’ can give the impression
that business writing is an easy skill, and it isn’t. Business writing
has a critical impact on the whole business cycle; it can win busi-
ness, it can lose business and it can communicate the framework by
which results can be achieved.
So, at the outset of my training workshops, I always take time to
ask people why they actually write in their job and what outcomes
they seek, individually and as teams. Unless they are marketers by
profession, the following aspects of business writing usually come
top of the list:

1 to inform or record;
2 to cascade information;

3 for compliance;
4 to seek information;